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 I had some birthdays in the family that were coming up that I wanted to make some homemade gifts for, and what better gift than a book that organizes all of your birthdays? :) These cute little books were inspired by The Birthday Organization Challenge by the uber talented gals over at Papertrey Ink.  

Every month I panic because I don't remember what birthdays are coming up and who I need to send a card to.  Well, Birthday books to the rescue!  What a cool idea - It's a simple concept all wrapped up in a pretty, and functional, book that you can leave on your desk.  

Basically, each page is a month where you mark down all of your birthdays on the front, and on the back is a handy attached envelope for stamps and address labels for all of the birthdays you are sending to for the month.  In the past, when it was time to send a birthday card, I was always scrambling to find the address (and a stamp!)- and sometimes this small task made me late in sending it out.  Not any more!  In addition to the book which sits on my desk for a handy reference,  I also have a Word document stored on my computer which is titled "Birthday Labels".  This document has all of the addresses of the people I need to send birthday greetings to for the entire year.  This makes addressing my envelopes so easy, and updating or adding any info is a snap.  I can keep this document updated and use it year after year.  I print out the labels just once for the year and then store them in the appropriate month envelopes in my book.  I also purchase a book of Forever stamps at my local Costco.  The stamps are separated into appropriate quantities for each month and added to the corresponding envelopes with the address labels.  At the end of each month, I  prepare all of my envelopes & cards for the birthdays that will be celebrated the following month.  

I ♥♥♥ House of 3!!!  It just doesn't get any better than Heidi Swapp, Rhonna Farrer, and Janet Hopkins!  If you have never been to their new site, you must check out all of the yummy delicious scrapbooking goodness.  These girls have really got it together, from being on the very edge of the latest scrapbooking trends to Rhonna's most fabulous digital creations.  This valentine's mini album was inspired and created using the Valentine Book Printable Kit, Valentine Template Printables Kit, Valentine Love Notes Brush Kit, the Haute Pink Background Kit, and the LOVE Twenty Ten True Type Dingbat Font.  

Times have been tough in this economy, (as we all know so well) so this year I decided that I would spend my time creating a lot more homemade gifts.  (I was always a big proponent of this anyway - much preferring a handmade gift to something store bought) This cute little set was inspired by my friends at Papertrey Ink.  What a talented group of gals they have on their design team - they have quickly become my favorite!  Nicole Heady, co-owner of Papertrey, has an absolutley AMAZING blog - which I highly highly recommend that you read religiously on a daily basis - Hurry! GO. NOW.  She is just so inspirational, and has all sorts of wonderful goodness on her site.  A while back, I stumbled upon her blog and saw these fabulous ideas for a line of stamps called "Simply Stationary".   It was love at first sight!  

 For this particular stationary set, I wanted to use a desgin and color scheme that was both elegant and functional.  The set includes 8 blank monogrammed cards with matching envelopes that are stored in a cute little card holder.  The card holder opens up to reveal  the cards on one side, and the bundled envelopes on the other.  I also included a cute little coordinating sentiment portfolio, which holds return address labels, monogrammed seals, and stamps.  I had so much fun creating this set, and the card holder and portfolio really brought it all together so nicely - you know what they say - it's all about the presentation!!! :)  

This project was a 5x7 mini album I made for my mother in law for Mother's Day.  I absolutley love the digital papers from Rhonna Farrer's French Ooh La La 8x10 paper kit, and couldn't wait to use them in this album!  They are just so fun and colorful!  It all happened quite by accident.  :)  I was searching my existing stash for papers to use.  Now, anyone who knows me and has seen my stash of paper is probably cracking up right now, as I probably have enough paper to open my own store!  But nothing was calling out to me.  So I thought I would check out my stash of digi paper, and  sure enough, Rhonna's papers just screamed at me.  (Many thanks go out to Jessica Sprague for teaching me the way to digital organization using ACDsee Photo Manager!!! Of course Rhonna is one of my tags so I can go directly to all of her digi goodness!  Love that program!!!)  

Now, I have never actually used a whole digi line of paper to create a "traditional" style scrapbook, but I was so excited to print out Rhonna's designs - every piece of cardstock that came off of my printer was like a little Christmas present!   I just wanted to touch and see those gorgeous designs!   And hey - it's all about learning and new experiences for me when I scrap!  How much fun - the papers really are all so delicious - of course they are from Rhonna so I expect nothing less. :) And the great part was that I only had to print out as much paper as I needed.  The other cool thing was that if I needed a different or additional color of paper, all I had to do was make a quick edit in Photoshop and I had an exact match.